Nano 2020

Nano 2020 is underway! I’m not exactly sure why writers love nanowrimo so much… I mean who intentionally signs up to write 50,000 words in just thirty days? Oh wait. I do! 

The first time I signed up was in 2009, but that doesn’t really count because I didn’t actually know what nanowrimo was, and by the time I figured it out, the deadline had passed and I hadn’t actually written anything! But in 2010 I was well prepared and finished my first of eight successful challenges. (I let it slide one year.)

Fast forward ten years and it’s 2020! And I’m ready to do it all again. This year I am going to try writing my first ever Young Adult novel. It’s also going to be Sci-fi. Yes, I am finally giving in to my first love! (More on my Sci-Fi obsession here, if you like…) 

Alien Allies has actually been in outline form for a long, long time. Like most of my work, when I get an idea, I often write some basics like character sketches and a rough outline. It’s actually only my second attempt at Sci-fi, though. I did another nano project one year with a Sci-fi theme called Out of This World. So far it hasn’t made it beyond the first draft, but I’m thinking about resurrecting it.

Nanowrimo has been good to me. Not only does it inspire me to write, it creates a deadline that keeps me accountable, albeit an artificial one that I could replicate anytime if I had the self discipline. From my eight successes, five projects got polished and published. The entire Three Strand Cord Series started as nano projects, as did the Neighbours Series.

And now back to nano…!